Limited Edditions   Giclée Hand Enhanced  Signed And Numbered.

 

What is a Giclée  ?
The term giclée refers to fine art prints created with a digital ink-jet printer. It is derived from the french word for "nozzle" which is "gicleur". Gicler is the french verb "to spray" (as from a nozzle). Most digital printers today use nozzles to direct ink onto paper or canvas, and thus the final product of the "spraying nozzle" is called a giclée. In the early days of ink-jet printing, most giclées were printed on Scitex Iris digital printers and hence were sometimes referred to as "Iris prints". Today, the term Giclée describes a high quality digital print produced from a wide variety of printer manufacturers, the most common being Roland, Colorspan, HP, Epson and Mutoh.

These printers produce a print that is very true to the original due to printing with 6 or 8 inks rather than the normal 4 color process (besides the usual Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black inks, there are two additional inks - Light Magenta and Light Cyan or Orange and Green). Another important factor affecting the quality of the print is the resolution of the printer - usually between 600 and 1200 dots per inch.

 

       

               

Longevity
Possibly the greatest concern of knowledgeable art collectors when considering the purchase of digital prints surrounds issues of stability.

The International Association of Fine Art Digital Printmakers (IAFADP) recommends that printmakers should disclose which materials have been used in the manufacturing of the print, including paper and inks. The IAFADP sponsers independent testing research carried out by Wilhelm Imaging Research, whose published lists of the longevity of digital fine art inks and paper/canvas combinations can be viewed on their internet site.

The life expectancy of a print, loosely defined, is the number of years before noticeable fading occurs under normal indoor lighting conditions. Since the technological advancement in this field is rapid, and new inks and papers are currently in development, any estimates more than 6 months old may be outdated.

Before investing a large sum in a digital print, a collector would be wise to check that the combination of ink and paper or canvas ensures a life expectancy that will protect his investment.

Certain pigment based inks can be expected to last between 70 and 200 years, whereas dye-based inks have a shorter life expectancy of 20-30 years.  some printmakers prefer digital printers that use dye-based inks because of the vivid color saturation which these printers achieve,    So there is a tradeoff between quality and longevity, which is valid as long as the customer is aware of it.

Until a few years ago, only Iris printers were used to produce giclées. However, technological advancements have spawned a new generation of high resolution wide-format printers that rival Iris in print quality yet cost much less, along with new pigment based inks that perform twice as well in longevity tests.

Today, the top of the line, highest quality giclées (those conforming to the TruGiclée standard of the GPA) are produced with Iris or Roland printers using pigment-based inks. (See TruGiclée ) The next best printers are  Epson with Epson pigmented inks  and Colorspan with Endurachrome inks.

Our Deluxe Edition hand enhanced giclees are printed on a Roland with archival quality pigment-based inks which were tested by Wilhelm Research Institute and found to have an estimated longevity of between 120-130 years on  canvas and paper .

The type of printer and ink used is always listed on the Certificate of Authenticity that comes with each print, which conforms to the legal requirements of all states in the US and follows the full disclosure guidelines, in order to provide the buyer with the maximum information possible.

At "S.Dimant Fine Art" we are constantly evaluating the newest technologies as they arrive on the market. For instance, we recently changed to a new improved canvas, although it involved a very costly process of re-proofing and adjusting the colors of each image. For more specific information regarding the inks and canvas used, please call or email us and we will be happy to provide more detailed explanations.